Microplastic Pollution: An Oceanic Menace

• A new study published in Nature Communications has estimated nearly 11.6-21.1 million tonnes of microplastic pollution in the Atlantic Ocean, indicating that the inputs and stocks of ocean plastics are much higher than determined previously.

Key Findings

• Scientists studied pollution of the Atlantic Ocean caused by three types of plastics: polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene, which were suspended in the top 200 metres of the ocean and are most commonly used for packaging.
• Smaller plastic particles are a hazard, asthey can easily sink to greater ocean depths and some marine species such as zooplankton show preferential ingestion of smaller particles, making them ....